By Carolyn Bossmann

Communications Director 

Hillary Clinton is leading the polls to become the democratic presidential nominee. But can her campaign survive the uphill battle over her use of private email? The final installment of a three-part series in which The Courier profiles a presidential hopeful.

The 2016 election will be Hillary Clinton’s second attempt at running for president of the U.S., and so far, she’s putting up a good fight. This is the age of Clinton and her collection of glorious pantsuits.

Yes, I said pantsuits. She is single-handedly bringing the pantsuit back in all its glory. But adding her own flair to White House fashion isn’t why she should be president. It’s just the icing on the cake. The great thing about Clinton is that she’s been in the public eye for quite a while now. We’ve seen her as a lawyer, activist, first lady, senator and secretary of state. The public has watched her go through her share of scandals, and they’ve watched as her dedication to her beliefs stood the test of time.

In the political world, Clinton could be called the hipster of feminism and health care reform. She’s been at the forefront of some of the biggest movements of this generation. During her time as first lady, Clinton helped create the Children’s Health Insurance Program. According to hillaryclinton.com, the program “provides health coverage to more than 8 million children.” She has been advocating equal rights her whole career.

She even spoke at the 1995 UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing after officials recommended she not attend. Clinton also has a high standing in the polls. Most recently, she is polling at 43.5 percent among all democratic candidates and about 34 percent above the average, according to insidegov.com. Obviously, she’s doing something right, and the public, or at least the democrats, are noticing.

Clinton is very liberal and embodies what the majority of voters want to see in their next president: a candidate who has a strong, experienced background in politics and isn’t afraid to change the way President Barack Obama does things, according to cnn.com.

If there’s anything we know about Clinton, it’s that she has been in politics for decades, and she is not afraid to pave her own way. Even when confronted with partisan roadblock after partisan roadblock. There is one thing Clinton can’t seem to escape in her debates, even prompting competitor Bernie Sanders to defend her during a recent debate by saying, “I think the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails.”

The emails in question have launched Clinton into something she’s probably pretty used to at this point: scandal. She was found to be using a personal email account and private server for both personal and official business, according to an article by The New York Times.

Clinton did not handle the scandal very well. She claimed she didn’t do something when it was later revealed that she had. The public has accused her of being monotone and uncaring in her apologies, and storing information to be sold to the highest bidder. “There is a burden of proving she knew what she was doing [when using the private server],” Michael Mukasey, former Attorney General and current advisor for Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign, said in an article for vox.com.

It’s clear Clinton should have double-checked that she was doing the right thing, but hindsight is always 20/20, and the public has accepted even weirder scandals from presidential candidates before her.

In 2000, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney were caught talking about a New York Times reporter when an active microphone caught the entire exchange. Bush called the reporter a “major league [expletive deleted].” To which Cheney responded, “big time,” according to time.com. Bush later apologized for being caught saying it, but not for actually saying it. The rest is history, as those two made it into office that election.

Clinton did not maliciously separate her email. Suggesting it is completely absurd. She has been in positions of power for years now, and if she wanted to sell information, she would have done it by now. It’s not difficult to see her passion for politics and her humanitarian work as secretary of state as obvious examples of why she is not a traitor to her country.

Clinton has proven her experience in politics and has been in the public eye for almost her entire career. The public knows her, and she has proven she can work with the status quo or go her own way, but she will get things done. There’s also the ever-present truth: At least she’s not Donald Trump.